Notebook: Oklahoma State-West Virginia

Five thoughts are posted here. Wanted to leave t my leftover notes from a brutal game on Saturday in Morgantown.

• The rims in Morgantown always seem to be harder than other Big 12 arenas. Maybe the Travis Ford era is giving me hallucinations.

• It’s at least a little damning that missing Tyree Griffin and Anthony Allen hurts Oklahoma State as much as it did, no?

• I thought Ford was going to have to try and sneak Keiton Page into a uniform after Chris Olivier, Mitch Solomon and Lleyton Hammonds fouled out.

• Kyle Boone said this the other day, but Chris Olivier is so much old man basketball. He might be 45, I have no idea. He lays the ball up when he has a clear dunk. It’s the best.

• Random, but I had no idea Maryland was ranked No. 3.

• Jawun Evans understands the importance of spacing really well. Maybe better than the coaching staff. He’s such a ballplayer. He and Jeff Newberry about 30 percent of the time are the things I look forward to about watching this team. Like, maybe the only things I look forward to.

• Jeffrey Carroll had a 10-point 11-rebound game. That might be the most stunning stat line of the year.

• There were 52 fouls called in this game (which seems like a lot). And yet I felt like the refs did a pretty good job and the game was pretty short.

• Devin Williams is a grown man. We do not have a Devin Williams. I would very much like to have a Devin Williams.

• I was thinking about how I probably overrate Jawun Evans as a basketball player simply because I enjoy watching him play. He’s great because I enjoy him! seems like a truism but it’s not necessarily true. People still watch and enjoy shows like Scandal and Grey’s Anatomy, yes?

• WVU shot 36 percent from the field and 27 percent from three in the first half and was easily up 12.

• One of the announcers told me Travis Ford measures the intensity of his team based on his guards’ rebounding. What in the world?

• Did I hear one of the announcers call WVU “Press Virginia”?

• Weeee!

Chris Olivier had one rebound in 32 minutes this week against Baylor and West Virginia.

— Mark Cooper (@mark_cooperjr) January 9, 2016

• OSU games have become incredibly difficult to watch even for somebody like me who is, on some level anyway, paid to watch them. I don’t mean that like “oh man, this is tough to watch.” I mean I literally have trouble keeping my eyes on the screen while basketball is being played.

• Why is Jeff Newberry so erratic around the rim?

• One of the good things about these blowouts is that the last five minutes take about 15 real minutes instead of an hour.

• Announcer: “They’re missing the leadership of Phil Forte.” They’re missing a lot more than that.

• Yep.

When you realize there are 16 more of these: pic.twitter.com/xQkzspbbpo

— Pistols Firing (@pistolsguys) January 9, 2016